


Wooing Mr. Novak

by sir_kingsley



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel - Freeform, First Kiss, M/M, Teacher Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 02:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5029975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sir_kingsley/pseuds/sir_kingsley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel knows better than to fall for a student's relative. But he just can't help himself when it comes to little Mary Winchester's green-eyed uncle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wooing Mr. Novak

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write teacher!Cas and it spun out of control

Mary Winchester was a handful. Loud, assertive, a bit of a smart aleck with a protective instinct that often led to physical altercations.

Some might call her a trouble-maker, but Castiel Novak could see her too big heart. And he absolutely adored her for it.

But as her teacher he still had to uphold the rules, which was why he was sitting at his desk thirty minutes after the final bell. The small girl was swinging her legs in her desk a few feet in front of him. She had one fist supporting her head as she tiredly scanned through her grammar workbook.

Every once in a while Cas would feel her gaze on him and look up to meet large hazel eyes before they flickered away with a small roll. The amount of sass in the gesture never ceased to make Cas smirk before he went back to his grading.

A while later Cas looked to the clock hanging over the door. School had ended almost an hour ago now. When Cas had called Mary’s dad after the incident, he had promised to come pick up his daughter. And Sam Winchester seemed like a responsible guy so Cas couldn’t imagine him forgetting his own child.

Cas glanced at his phone, then at Mary who looked thoroughly bored. It wouldn’t hurt to call to check in.

He was just beginning to dial when the door to his classroom swung open. Cas looked up expecting Mary’s father but this man was definitely not Sam Winchester. For one, he was far too short. And secondly, Cas had never seen a man as beautiful as this and he sure as hell wouldn’t have forgotten him. 

“Mary, are you okay?” the man asked, going right toward her. He gently framed Mary’s face with his hands and began looking her over.

Mary frowned and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. “Uncle Dean, I’m fine,” she grumbled. 

“You sure? No scars, no bruises? No internal bleeding or broken ribs?” He pretended to keep checking her over, poking at her belly and she giggled.

“Nothing’s broke!” she shrieked through her laughter.

“Oh thank god,” the man sighed. “Your mom would kill me if I brought you home all bruised and battered.”

“Umm, excuse me?” Cas jumped in, finally getting ahold of himself. 

The man looked up like he had just noticed Cas’s presence. Cas managed a small smile and extended his hand as the man stood. He had to resist the urge to back up a step as the man’s face came to stop just inches from his. His eyes were the brightest green he’d ever seen, flecked with gold and framed by laugh lines Cas wanted to memorize with his fingers.

He swallowed.

“Hello, I’m, ugh, I’m Castiel Novak. I’m Mary’s teacher. W-who are you?”

Dean didn’t answer right away and for a second Cas didn’t think he was going to. He just stared, eyes looking Cas up and down like he was analyzing him. Then his lips began to twitch into a smile. 

“Right. Sorry. Dean Winchester. I’m Mary’s uncle. Her parents got held up at work and called me to come get her. Sam said she got in a fight.”

“Yes.” Cas circled back around his desk, desperately needing to put space between himself and Dean. “Mary punched a boy at recess today.” 

Dean looked over his shoulder to his niece. “Seriously, Mary?”

Mary didn’t look the least bit apologetic. “He had it coming,” she sniffed.

“Mary, that’s not an excuse. You can’t just go around slugging people.”

“Actually, Mary was defending a friend,” Cas interjected. “We have four other students saying the boy was bullying her friend. Mary told him to stop and when he didn’t she punched him in the stomach. It was very noble.” Mary beamed in her seat. “For that, I’m not recommending any kind of punishment. However, this is the third fight Mary’s been in this year. If it continues, I won’t be able to fight the principle for giving her detention or even suspending her.”

“Well, looks like we’ll have to do something about that temper then,” Dean said. “You hear that, Mary? No more playground scuffles.”

“Yes sir,” she muttered

Dean turned back to Cas. “That all then?”

“Ugh, yes,” Cas said, feeling a ridiculous cloud of sadness settle in his chest. “Yes, that’s all.” Cas forced his attention to Mary as she threw her backpack over her small shoulders and came to stand next to her uncle “I’ll see you in class tomorrow, Mary.”

“See you tomorrow, Mr. Novak,” Mary chirped.

Dean put a hand on Mary’s shoulder and began steering her toward the door. At the last second, Dean turned with a smile. “It was nice meeting you… Mr. Novak.”

Cas inhaled deeply. “Yes. It was nice meeting you too… Mr. Winchester.”

Dean’s smile widened before he stepped out of the door. 

*****

One frustrating night of sleep later and Castiel had mostly gotten Dean Winchester out of his head. It was for the best. He would likely never see the man again and he didn’t need those green eyes and that arrogant smirk haunting him every waking moment.

He got through the day with his students like he usually did, plenty of smiles and a few more stern looks toward Mary and Benny when she noticed them snickering in the back. That was never a good thing.

The final bell rang and he stood to say goodbye to each of his students as they packed up and dashed from the room. 

When the final student was gone Cas turned with a sigh and jumped. Mary Winchester was still sitting in her desk, swinging her legs.

“Mary, the bell rang. Don’t you have to catch your bus?”

Mary looked up from her coloring book. “Uncle Dean is picking me up today!” she said happily. “He told me to wait for him here.”

A swarm of butterflies released in Cas’s stomach at just the mention of Dean.

“Oh. Okay. That’s exciting.” 

“It is!” Mary agreed. “Uncle Dean’s the best. And when he gets me I get to see his baby.”

And just like that, the butterflies died.

“Baby?” Cas echoed, fighting to maintain his smile.

“Yeah! She’s beautiful!” Mary’s face scrunched up for a moment. “She can be loud but I love her and so does Uncle Dean! She’s his favorite!”

A baby. Dean had a child. Which meant he was probably in a relationship, maybe even married. 

A knock startled Cas and he looked over to find Dean waving in the doorway. “No one’s in trouble this time, right?” he teased in his deep voice that still made Cas shiver.

“Nope!” Mary said and hopped out of her seat.

“Ready to ride, munchkin?” 

“I was born ready!” she replied, fisting her hands in the air.

“All right!” Dean bumped his fists to Mary’s. He looked at Cas then and gave him that same cocky grin that Cas didn’t know how to process. “How you doing, Mr. Novak?”

Cas remained in his desk, absolutely refusing to get close to Dean. He just needed the man to leave and let him work his way through this shattered crush. 

Still, he returned the smile. “Very well, thank you. How was your day, Mr. Winchester?”

“Perfect,” Dean answered smoothly. “It’s been just… great.”

“Let’s go see baby!” Mary said, tugging on her uncle’s hand.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming, jeesh,” Dean said and allowed her to pull him out of the door. “See you around, Mr. Novak!”

Cas released a long breath as soon as the two were gone. 

“Well, Castiel,” he muttered to himself, “this is what you get for having a crush on your student’s relative.”

Dean was in a relationship and that was that. Cas smiled wistfully. He supposed it was nice while it lasted.

He gathered up his assignment folders and turned out the classroom light.

*****

Castiel thought it would be easy enough to get past Dean. He’d only had two interactions with the man after all and neither had been on an especially deep or intimate level. It was just a crush anyway.

And he’s in a relationship, Cas always reminded himself.

Easier said than done when he had to see the beautiful man every damn day.

Castiel wasn’t sure what had happened but suddenly Dean was the one picking Mary up from school every day. And sometimes he even brought her, going the extra mile to walk her to the classroom every morning, always making time to have a brief chat with Cas before he went to work.

Despite himself, Castiel began to look forward to those conversations, loving the way Dean seemed genuinely interested in what he did last night or what lessons he had planned for the day. One morning they got on the subject of music and when Cas mentioned his love for Zeppelin he swore he had never seen a grown man’s eyes light up quite the way Dean’s had.

Weeks into this routine, Castiel still knew very little about Dean aside from his love of cars and classic rock — and Mary of course. Dean didn’t talk about himself much at all and Cas noticed in particular that he never mentioned his child or partner. 

That Cas found it odd was an understatement. Cas knew from experience that if there was one thing parents loved to talk about it was their children — and spouses if they had one. 

But not Dean. 

Cas found himself on the brink of asking several times but always managed to bite his tongue last second. Truthfully, he didn’t want to know. And he didn’t care if that was selfish. 

“Fantasizing about long division?”

Cas looked up from the work he’d been neglecting to find a red-haired woman settling in the seat opposite him. He smiled. “Hello, Anna.”

“You okay? You’ve been staring for like ten minutes.”

“I’m fine. Just preparing for the fall show.”

“Oh yeah? Gonna make a good show for Uncle Dreamy?”

Cas felt like he was choking on air. “What?”

Anna smirked knowingly. “Don’t play dumb with me, Castiel. We all see the way you look at him when he comes to pick up Mary.”

Cas could feel himself blushing and had every urge to fly away. “I-I’m not- I don’t-”

“Hey, I’m not judging. He’s hot. For a guy like that I’d bend over my desk in a-”

“Anna!”

She just laughed. “Don’t worry, Cas, he’s all yours.”

Cas forced himself to take a breath. “Thank you for your consideration, Anna, but I’m afraid a relationship with Dean is off the table for both of us.”

“Hmm? Why?”

“Dean is already in a relationship. And he has a baby.”

A hinge of Anna’s smile broke, falling first into surprise and then genuine disappointment. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear that, Cas.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Cas said with a small smile. 

“But you like him.”

“I barely know him.”

Anna gave him that knowing look again but didn’t press. “Okay, Cas. Whatever you say.”

At the end of the day, Cas found himself alone with Mary again as they waited for Dean. Cas set to cleaning one end of the whiteboard while Mary doodled on the other.

“Those are great drawings, Mary,” Cas said, peering over her collage of cats, cars, and flowers.

She beamed up at him. “Thank you!”

Cas pointed to something with long legs and a big nose. It could have been a horse or a chicken. “What’s this one?”

“That’s my dog, Riot!”

Cas smiled. “And this one?” he asked, pointing to something with wings. 

“It’s you.”

Cas’s head whipped down. “Me?”

Mary kept her focus on the board as she sketched out what appeared to be mermaid with vampire fangs. “Yeah. Uncle Dean says you’re an angel ‘cause your name and eyes.”

“My… eyes?”

“Uncle Dean said only an angel could have eyes that pretty.”

Cas felt hot and forced his attention to the sloppy math equations in front of him. He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips as he and Mary worked in silence.

“You ready to roll, Van Gogh?”

Mary and Cas both turned at the deep voice. Dean was leaning against the doorframe, a content smile on his face. 

“I wanna be Da Vinci,” Mary objected as she went to get her backpack. 

Dean raised his hands in surrender. “My bad.” He straightened and took a few steps toward the board as Cas lowered his eraser. “What’s got you so happy, Cas?”

“Hmm? Oh, um, nothing,” Cas said, trying to tone it down a bit. “It was just a good day.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“How was your day, Dean?”

Dean shrugged. “Can’t complain. Did have to leave Baby at home today, though.”

Mary spun around as Cas’s face immediately fell into concern. “Why?” Mary cried.

“She’s sick right now, kiddo. It’s not good to take her all over town.”

“Will-will she be okay?” Cas asked.

“Oh yeah, I’ll take care of her,” Dean assured him sounding far too casual for a parent with a sick child. Cas supposed it was a show for Mary so she didn’t worry too much for her baby cousin. “She’ll be good as new in a day or two.”

“Let’s go check on her!” Mary said, taking Dean’s hand and pulling toward the door.

“All right. See you tomorrow night, Cas,” Dean said, resisting his niece just a little.

Cas blinked. “Night?”

“Yeah, for the fall show.”

“Oh, you’re coming?”

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

*****

Cas’s stomach was in knots Friday night as the gymnasium flooded with parents and relatives. 

He never should have been put in charge of this show. Cas’s musical experience stopped at high school show choir. He had no idea how to organize a show. But with the music teacher on maternity leave and the school’s strict budget, Cas was the best option. 

“Nice turnout,” Anna said from where they stood greeting attendees as they filed inside. 

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Cas, this is an elementary school show. No one has high expectations.”

“Mr. Novak!”

Cas turned his head. A blonde woman and an abnormally tall man waved as they headed toward him. 

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Winchester. I’m glad you could make it.”

“Of course!” Jessica Winchester said. “Mary’s been talking about it nonstop.”

“Yeah, she was a little too excited about being casted as the wicked witch,” Sam Winchester said with a grin.

“Her enthusiasm has been quite a motivator at rehearsals.”

“It’s like a fucking Yankee candle sale in here,” a deep voice grumbled from behind Cas.

“Oh, Mr. Novak, you’ve met Sam’s brother, Dean, right?”

Cas’s heart leaped as Dean took his place next to Sam and Jess. He smiled politely at the green-eyed man who was smiling at him like he was the only person in the room. 

“Oh yeah,” Dean said. “Cas and I have become good friends.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Jess muttered and Dean shot her a look. 

“Hello, Dean,” Cas greeted. “I’ll admit, I was surprised not to see you this afternoon.” 

Dean scratched at the back of his neck. “Yeah, I had to trade some hours to make sure I could be here tonight.”

Another leap in Cas’s chest. He coughed to smother it. “That was kind of you to do for Mary.”

Dean’s face was a little red. “Ugh, yeah. Well, she’s been really excited about this.”

“She’s not the only one,” Jess said and this time Sam nudged her in the side.

“We’re going to go find some seats,” Sam said. “Have a great show, Mr. Novak.”

“Oh, thank you,” Cas called after them.

Dean cleared his throat when his family was gone. “So Cas, you got a minute after the show?”

Cas tilted his head in consideration. “Well, I have to stay after to help clean up.”

“That’s not…” Dean trailed off as his lips twitched into a grin. “I meant would you… Would you like to grab a bite to eat after?”

“I actually ate before I-” Cas broke off as Dean’s words took one more lap in his head. “Oh. You’re- You mean- Like a…”

Dean’s small hopeful smile died on his lips. “Oh, shit man. Was I reading into this wrong? I’m sorry, Cas, I just thought you felt the same way.”

Everything was going too fast for Cas now. “But you…. What about… y-your wife?”

Dean frowned. “My what?”

“Cas, show’s in ten,” Anna said, coming up behind Cas and taking his hand. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, Cas, I’m not-”

Cas didn’t get to hear. He allowed Anna to sweep him away and take him behind stage.

“What was all that tension between you and Uncle Dreamy?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Hey, you okay, Cas?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay… Well, do you at least know how to welcome the audience?” When Cas didn’t answer Anna snapped her fingers in his face, drawing his attention. “Cas, dude, the show. You have a show to direct. I don’t know what’s up with you but you need to focus right now.”

He nodded. “Yes. Okay.”

Anna squeezed his shoulder. “You got this?”

“I got this.”

“All right. Now, go tell those baby makers hello.”

His welcoming speech was shaky and he focused his attention on a “Got Milk” poster in the back of the gymnasium, too scared that if he looked around the audience he would find a pair of green eyes. 

The show went on with few issues. A few missed steps in the choreography, one kid who just sat down on stage and took a break. At the end, the kids had a standing ovation and the principle said farewell.

Cas remained backstage until almost everyone was gone. When just a few stray children and their parents remained to nag teachers after hours, he came out of hiding to begin cleaning. 

“Cas.”

Cas paused in the middle of folding chairs. He had prayed that Dean would just leave and they would never see each other again — as much as it hurt to think their friendship would end on such an awkward and painful note. 

He just didn’t have the strength to deal with this, to sort through this confusing mess. 

“You should go home, Dean.”

“Cas, earlier you asked me about my wife.”

Cas took a breath and carried his folded chair to the pile he had started against the stage. “Yes, Dean, your wife. The woman you have vowed your love and loyalty to. The woman who is probably waiting at home with your sick child for her husband who she loves and trusts not to break her heart. That wife.”

He could feel Dean following him. “Yeah, that wife. Cas, I don’t have a wife. I’m not married. I don’t even know where you got that from.”

“Then your partner,” Cas offered, folding another chair.

“Dammit, Cas, would you-”

“Language,” Cas snapped, turning to face Dean for the first time. 

“Sorry,” Dean said, glancing at the few children left. “Cas, I don’t have a partner. I’m not in a relationship. And where the he… heck,” he corrected at Cas’s stern look, “did you get that I have a kid?”

Cas shook his head, completely lost. “We were just talking about your daughter yesterday.”

“No we weren’t because I don’t have one!”

“Dean, you told me and Mary that she was sick.”

Dean was still for a second and Cas moved to fold a new chair. He was turning to carry it to the others when he heard a small chuckle. Cas looked at Dean who was smiling distantly, his eyes shining with humor.

“You think this is funny?” Cas hissed.

“Oh my god,” Dean breathed. “You thought Baby was my kid?”

“That’s kind of what a baby is, Dean. Mary talks about her all the time.”

Dean laughed again, this time throwing his head back. Cas found himself burning with frustration. 

“Why is this funny?” he growled.

“Cas, Baby is my car.”

Cas frowned. “What?”

“I call my car Baby. Mary picked up the habit when she was like two years old. Trust me, it drives her dad insane.”

“But you… You said she was sick.”

“An oil leak. Can’t really explain engine mechanics to a fourth grader, though.”

“Oh my god.”

“You seriously thought I was married and had a kid this entire time?”

“Oh my god.”

“I can’t believe this. I wondered why you never seemed to respond to my flirting. I just thought you were worried with Mary always being around.”

“Oh my god.”

Two hands cupped Cas’s face and he was forced to look into sparkling green eyes. “Cas, please say something else.”

But Cas couldn’t think of anything to say. All he could think of was every day of the last three weeks, every wasted encounter with Dean Winchester that could have been more than a friendly “good morning,” every time he felt guilty for staring a little too long at Dean’s lips or his ass when he left the classroom. Every night where all he could think about was the touch of a man who belonged with another.

But he had that touch now, pressed gently and warmly on either side of his face, those lips just a breath away.

Cas was at a loss of what to do.

So he laughed.

Dean frowned in confusion at first then a few of his own chuckles shook free. “I hope this a good sign,” he said, his thumb sliding to caress Cas’s cheekbone as his face leaned closer to Cas’s.

Cas was dragged into the gravitational pull of Dean’s eyes and he gave himself over like a comet colliding with a planet, and the second his lips tasted Dean’s he saw stars. 

He wasn’t sure how long they kissed but when they pulled away they were both panting and his hands had found their way into Dean’s hair. 

“Dean.”

Dean’s eyes fluttered open. “Yeah, Cas?”

“Would you still like to have dinner?”


End file.
